Frostbite
by horrendoushaddock
Summary: Ficlet. A babe in the wood. Goodbye, Wirt.


**A/N:** written for mogadeer on tumblr.

**Frostbite**

He dreams of a garden, and of a wall.

Flesh and bone are planted in the earth, rotten seeds of things forgotten and unborn. There is a small gathering of monsters, and a skeleton, spotted and colorful and beautiful, beckons him into their circle. Then there is a bright and blinding light and a wailing that goes right through him. He runs, he runs away from the light and from the monsters and skeleton, and then he reaches the wall. And the wall is so tall, but the light can't follow him over it. So he climbs it, goes over it, and then he's lost in the dark.

The dream gives way to voices ringing in his ears. He recognizes one as his own, and then there is another, familiar and strange all at once. His brow furrows in his waning sleep, eyes searching the dark behind his eyelids.

_I don't know much of anything anymore. _

_Thanks for trusting me. _

_I'm done. _

_I won't let you down. _

_I'll be asleep. _

_I'm sorry I got us lost. _

_I'm trying to sleep. _

_Goodbye, Wirt. _

Sleep leaves him very suddenly, and he jerks awake with a shortness of breath. There's a name on the tip of his tongue that he can't bring himself to call, can't quite remember. He searches his surroundings a little frantically, getting up onto his knees in the snow and twisting about a few times.

"Looking for something?" A voice calls from behind him quite suddenly. A new voice, one he's sure he's never heard before. He turns himself around, and furrows his brow as he looks up at the stranger. A boy, and he can't be more than sixteen or seventeen. He's tall and thin and so pale that Wirt thinks the moonlight could go right through him.

"I … I don't know?" Wirt admits, and slowly brings himself to stand. He presses his fingers gingerly to one temple, rubbing in small circles. "I thought I was. I guess I fell asleep, and forgot."

"That happens sometimes," the stranger says. "You'll remember, eventually."

"I hope so," Wirt says, offering the stranger a small and wavering smile. "I think it was important."

The stranger nods. "Don't worry about that for now. What's your name?"

The question seems to catch Wirt off guard, and he pulls his cloak tighter about his shoulders. He idly takes note of the frost that's crept down along the hem of it. There's frost on his cuffs, too, and his fingers are flushed as though frozen, but it's the funniest thing because he doesn't feel cold. His breath doesn't even cloud in front of him as he breathes.

And then that voice is ringing through his ears again.

_Wirt… Wirt. Wirt? Wirt! WirtWirtWirtWirt… _

"Wirt," he says very suddenly. "My name is Wirt."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Wirt," the stranger says with a grin. "My name's Jack."

"Jack," Wirt repeats, and then furrows his brow at the other boy. "What are you even doing out here?"

"Just taking a walk in the snow," Jack says, leaning his weight onto a staff. Wirt notes that it looks oddly like a shepherd's crook, though something tells him this isn't the strangest thing he's seen lately. He just wishes he could remember to make the proper comparison.

"You're - you're not even wearing shoes!" Wirt blurts out, and makes a vague, sweeping motion of one arm. "And we're in the middle of nowhere!"

"Right. Great place to take a nap, huh?" Jack retorts, and Wirt feels a warmth flood his cheeks. He hugs his cloak tighter. He glances back at the tree he had been sleeping under, a heap of snow and tangled branches in his place. He stares at the mound for a long moment, and there's something unsettling about it.

"Y-yeah…" Wirt mumbles in reply, agreeing only half-heartedly and at his own expense. "Great place."

Jack is at his side, nudging at him with an elbow. "Walk with me," he encourages, nodding away from their current place and to the path ahead.

Something tells Wirt they're walking back the way he came, but he can't remember any reason to go on in the other direction, either. He takes one more glance at the unsettling heap of snow and branches, then follows Jack away from it.


End file.
